New Brandeis Career Network integrates and expands services for undergraduate and graduate students

Brandeis Stories

New Brandeis Career Network integrates and expands services for undergraduate and graduate students

By Steve Foskett
Photography by Gaelen Morse
August 31, 2026 • Student Life

A new approach to career services makes expanded resources available to students wherever they are in their Brandeis journey and wherever they are on campus.

The Brandeis Career Network, a pillar of the Brandeis Plan to Reinvent the Liberal Arts, increases focus on career readiness, integrates previously separate resources across the university under one umbrella, and delivers on the plan's promise of dedicated career counseling from the moment a student arrives.

Available now and operating through the Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts, the Brandeis Career Network is designed to operate seamlessly with other aspects of the plan, including skills-based microcredentials, the second transcript, and the new Suitable app that serves as a students' individualized hub for tracking their career journey.

Satellite offices, expanded service

The new network will distribute several "nodes," or satellite offices, throughout the university, and in other convenient locations, including the library, said Lewis Brooks, director of the Center for Careers and Applied Liberal Arts. At each node, a student has access to the same newly expanded services and dedicated staff they would get by visiting the Brandeis Career Network's central location in the Hiatt Career Center in Usdan.

"With the satellite offices, a student doesn't need to travel across campus for career services," Brooks said.

Embedded in classrooms, working with faculty

The university is hiring more staff as these satellite offices get established, and they will be aligned to specific schools and programs, said Jon Schlesinger, executive director, Career Services, Education and Strategy. Going beyond the new series of satellite offices, the goal of the new structure is to integrate it into every facet of the college experience.

"Career staff are going to be embedded in the everyday rhythms of student life, working with faculty, sharing spaces, and becoming a visible part of the academic experience for students across campus," Schlesinger said.

Not just for undergrads

One key aspect of the Brandeis Career Network is an expanded focus on graduate students, both on campus and online through the Rabb School of Continuing Studies.

"They will still get specialized, school-aligned services, but we're expanding that access, including externally, with employers," said Frank Fessenden, executive director, Employer & Alumni Relations and Experiential Learning.

Employer engagement, alumni support

Fessenden and Schlesinger, who will spearhead the Brandeis Career Network, said part of its mission is to direct dedicated resources toward connecting students with internships and applied research, community service and expanded relationships with employers.

"We want meaningful experience outside the classroom to be a defining part of a Brandeis education, woven throughout a student's time here" Fessenden said. "Employers are an important part of that, helping students connect what they're learning to the world outside the university through internships, classroom engagement, networking, and ultimately recruiting and hiring."

Add to that an expansion of the Brandeis alumni network and the Rise Together alumni mentoring program, and students will truly start to see how they can connect a rigorous liberal arts education with a fulfilling career. Alumni can get involved in multiple ways, no matter their profession or schedule. Their time and insight can make a real difference for Brandeis students, Schlesinger said.

"Career staff are going to be embedded in the everyday rhythms of student life, working with faculty, sharing spaces, and becoming a visible part of the academic experience for students across campus."

Jon Schlesinger, executive director, Career Services, Education and Strategy

Fessenden said the new push reflects the ambitions of the Brandeis Plan-to have interaction with alumni and employers be an integral part of the students' educational experience, not a separate one. It's an important part of the "One foot in the classroom, one foot in the street" philosophy that underpins the Brandeis Plan.

"We want them to graduate with the confidence that they have a network," Fessenden said. "A network shouldn't depend on your family or your background. When you come to Brandeis, you get plugged into a network, and that's really a critical part of this whole effort."